Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday called on the Taliban and their allies to join an assembly on a security pact that could allow some U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014.

Around 2,500 tribal elders and civil leaders are expected to take part in an assembly known as a "loya jirga" next Thursday, to decide whether to accept the draft Bilateral Security Agreement between Afghanistan and the U.S.

The Taliban Monday warned an upcoming elders' assembly against endorsing a deal allowing U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014, saying they would be punished as "traitors" if they did so.

Around 2,500 tribal elders and civil leaders are expected to take part in an assembly known as a "loya jirga" this month, to decide whether to accept the draft Bilateral Security Agreement between Afghanistan and the U.S.

The Afghan president has criticized the timing of a U.S. drone strike that killed the Pakistani Taliban leader, after an angry Islamabad expressed fears the death would undermine planned peace talks.

The killing Friday of Hakimullah Mehsud, the feared chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has killed thousands in a six-year insurgency, sparked a furious response from the Pakistan government.

Afghan negotiators seeking peace with the Taliban will soon travel to Pakistan for their first meeting with key militant commander Mullah Baradar, officials said Wednesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement that a deal had been reached after talks on Tuesday in London with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a second day of talks in Kabul Saturday, after making progress over a long-delayed deal on the future of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Karzai said this week that he was prepared to walk away from negotiations on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would allow some U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2014.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Afghanistan Friday for urgent talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as an end of October deadline looms for completing a security deal that would allow American troops to remain in Afghanistan after the end of the NATO-led military mission next year.

Kerry's unannounced visit to Kabul comes as talks on the Bilateral Security Agreement have foundered over issues of Afghan sovereignty despite a year of negotiations.

A security deal to allow some U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaida was at risk of collapse Tuesday after President Hamid Karzai said he was prepared to walk away from negotiations.

The United States has pushed for the bilateral security pact (BSA) to be signed by the end of this month so that the U.S.-led NATO military coalition can schedule its withdrawal of 87,000 combat troops by the end of next year.

A long list of controversial candidates for Afghanistan's 2014 election raised concerns Monday of a repeat of the chaotic last presidential poll as the country seeks a stable end to the foreign military presence.

President Hamid Karzai, constitutionally barred from running for a third term, had called for just three or four candidates -- to avoid the disorder of 2009, when 40 names appeared on the ballot paper.

A planned deal to let U.S. forces stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to fight al-Qaida remnants is under threat because of disagreement over the Americans' right to conduct military operations, Kabul says.

President Hamid Karzai is now directly leading the talks after they ground to a halt despite U.S. pressure to complete the security agreement by the end of this month, said Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi.

A prominent Afghan opposition leader said Tuesday he will run for president in next year's presidential election.

The vote will be critical in determining Afghanistan's future following the withdrawal of all foreign combat troops at the end of 2014.